Cross-function virtualization of a telecom core network

ABSTRACT

In the present disclosure, functions associated with the central office of an evolved packet core network are co-located onto a computer platform or sub-components through virtualized function instances. This reduces and/or eliminates the physical interfaces between equipment and permits functional operation of the evolved packet core to occur at a network edge.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. Continuation patentapplication Ser. No. 15/812,888, filed Nov. 14, 2017 which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/128,010, filed Dec.20, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,817,684, which is a National PhaseApplication of PCT Application No. PCT/US2013/065230, filed on Oct. 16,2013, which in turn claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/714,518, filed Oct. 16, 2012, the entire disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Current demand for data on wireless networks is growing significantly.Wireless network service providers are struggling to address this demandby expanding their radio coverage and efficiency. The lesser knownstruggle of operators is the capacity build out that needs to happen atthe network core through which all the radio access gear connect.

Radio access technology advancements make spectrum usage increasinglyefficient, i.e., increased number of bearer channels for a givenbandwidth of radio spectrum. This allows wireless network operators toscale their network with a fine degree of granularity to pinpoint andaddress data demands. Technology improvements at the network corehowever do not allow the same degree granular scalability, i.e., thecapacity increases at the core are possible in much larger steps thanthat possible in the radio access network. This leaves the wirelessnetwork operators with financially inefficient capital expenditure(CAPEX) investments on the network core infrastructure. To compound thisissue, core network equipment technology advancements continue onproprietary paths without leveraging from the huge advancements made indata center technologies. This burdens wireless network operators withoperating expenditures (OPEXs) that are too heavy to allow flexiblescaling out of the network core tailored to demands per market segments(traffic types).

Approaches thus far have focused at increasing the performance of eachof the equipment in the network core infrastructure. Most of this hasbeen to performance tune the data plane stack of this equipment. Whilethis gives better performing hardware units at near same costs, it doesnothing to address the CAPEX/OPEX troubles faced by Wireless NetworkOperators in scaling out their networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparentfrom the following detailed description of embodiments consistenttherewith, which description should be considered with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional telecom network architecture; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a scalable hardware platform according to the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a telecom network architecture according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with referencebeing made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives,modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilledin the art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the present disclosure, functions associated with the central officeof an EPC network are co-located onto a computer platform orsub-components through virtualized function instances. This reducesand/or eliminates the physical interfaces between equipment allowing alevel of integration that brings performance improvements andscalability currently not achievable.

FIG. 1 depicts a conventional wireless telecom network system 100. Thesystem 100 generally includes a radio access network (RAN) 102 and acentral office 104. The system 100 includes a plurality of hardwaredevices, hardware platforms and associated signaling, functionality, anddefinition which may generally comply with, or otherwise be compatiblewith, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long TermEvolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) based wireless networkstandard, including current, previous and future versions of thatstandard. These may include, for example, 3GPP TS 36.212: “EvolvedUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channelcoding”, 3GPP TS 36.211: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access(E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation”, 3GPP TS 23.221, 3GPP TS24.301, 3GPP TS 36.413, 3GPP TS 33.401, etc. Reference to hardwareplatforms (e.g., UE, eNodeB, MME, SGW, HSS, PGW, PCRF, etc.) andassociated signaling and functionality, as used herein, may be generallydefined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards, and/or derivativesthereof.

The system 100 is configured to exchange commands and/or data with otherservers/systems/devices via network 106, and to exchange commands and/ordata with various platforms in the central office 104 and/or the RAN102. The system 100 may communicate using a switched fabriccommunications protocol, for example, an Ethernet communicationsprotocol, etc. The Ethernet communications protocol may be capable ofproviding communication using a Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP). The Ethernet protocol may comply or be compatiblewith the Ethernet standard published by the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) titled “IEEE 802.3 Standard”, published inMarch, 2002 and/or later versions of this standard, for example, theIEEE 802.3 Standard for Ethernet, published 2012. Of course, theswitched fabric communications protocol may include a custom and/orproprietary switched fabric communications protocol. The user planeprotocol stack 118 and control plane protocol stack 120 are alsoillustrated in FIG. 1 for various devices in the RAN 102 and centraloffice 104. The stack 118 and/or 120 is/are generally compatible withthe aforementioned 3GPP standard and/or Ethernet protocol.

The RAN 102 generally includes plurality of end-user devices (UEs), celltowers and local nodes (eNodeB) which collectively form part of thelocal wireless network. The UEs may include, for example wirelesshandheld devices (e.g., iPad®, etc.), smartphones (e.g., iPhone®,Galaxy®, etc.). The towers are each configured to communicate witheNodeB systems, as is shown. Each tower and/or eNodeB device may form anedge of the network system 100. The collection of devices in the RAN 102are configured to communicate with the central office 104. The centraloffice 104 (also referred to herein as an “evolved packet core (EPC)”)is generally configured to perform a variety of functions associatedwith deployment and management of the wireless system and wirelessdevices. To that end, the central office 104, in the conventionalsystem, includes a plurality of independent hardware systems to providethe functionality that is required by the network. For example, atypical central office 104 may include an MME (mobility managemententity) platform 108 which is configured for signaling, bearer and statemanagement functions of the central office 104, which may include, forexample, management of the number of devices (e.g., devices in RAN 102)attached to the network 100, identification of the cell tower eachdevice is attached to, manage specific service requests from one or moreof the devices, manage idle and active connection of devices, managemovement of devices between towers/eNodeB's, etc., and/or otherfunctionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.

The central office 104 also typically includes a serving gateway (SGW)platform 110 configured for service (bearer) negotiation and generallyoperates as a high performance service aggregation router primarilydesigned for high data throughput. For example, the SGW 110 isconfigured to exchange commands and data with the MME 108 when a deviceattaches to an eNodeB, on a specific service request, on a remote devicehandover, etc. The SGW 110 is also configured to provide user planetermination points for each eNodeB device, exchange commands and datawith the packet gateway (PGW, discussed below) 114 to set up the userplane for accepted bearers, and route user plane command flows betweenthe eNodeB and the PGW 114, etc., and/or other functionality as may bedefined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.

The central office 104 also typically includes a home subscriptionserver (HSS) 112, which is a database to store profile and credentialinformation for each UE (and/or subscriber), etc., and/or otherfunctionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.The central office 104 also typically includes a PGW 114 configured toprovide a gateway between the system 100 and the network 106 (e.g.,Internet). The PGW 114 is generally configured to provide decoding ofeNodeB data (e.g., GTP-U payloads) onto network routers (not shown) totransmit the data to one or more external networks 106, encodingincoming traffic from the network 106 into GTP-U payloads by encodingdestination eNodeB address information, and routing GTP-U data flows toan appropriate interface of the SGW 110, etc., and/or otherfunctionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.The central office 104 also typically includes a policy and rulesfunction (PCRF) device 116 configured to manage policy and/or specificrules for each UE (and/or subscriber), etc., and/or other functionalityas may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards. By design, eachof the platforms of the conventional telecom architecture 100 isdeployed on independent hardware systems, as generally depicted in FIG.1, and these platforms typically communicate with one another using theaforementioned Ethernet communication protocol (and/or a proprietaryswitched packet communication protocol).

FIG. 1 also illustrates details of a typical end-to-end Evolved PacketSystem (EPS) wireless network configuration. In this configuration, aneNodeB (which are the Radio Access network towers or small radio accesspoints) establishes a bearer or path to the internet for the devices(UEs) that attach to them. The bearer is specific to the nature of thetraffic it carries. For example, browsing and email typically requiredefault bearers while audio or video streaming will need specialbearers. A UE, attached to an eNodeB, can establish a plurality ofbearers associated to one or more application sessions being executed onthe UE. Both the type of bearer and the number of bearers established bya UE need to be negotiated through the central office 104. On successfulnegotiation of a bearer, the PGW 114 provides external internet accessby the application running on the UE.

Bearer negotiation typically occurs at application startup and continuesthrough the entire duration of execution of the application. This allowsa) the UE to move across eNodeBs (i.e., handover), and b) applicationrichness, e.g., a browsing application to launch an audio or videostream. In the system 100, bearer negotiation is generally provided bysignaling messages carried over IP, as may be defined by theaforementioned 3GPP standards. These signaling messages are typicallyshort, e.g., 50 to 100 bytes, but typically large in number, dependingon the number of applications running and the number of UE on the system100. The signaling messages from the eNodeBs/UEs are transmitted to thecentral office 104 (typically transmitted to the MME 108 and SGW 110),typically at 10 to 50 us intervals in any given network configuration.The devices of the central office 104 are connected over a networkprovider or carrier backbone and all signaling as well as applicationtraffic is backhauled from the eNodeB on the metro-Ethernet. Theapplication payload is delivered to the internet backbone only if allthe signaling checks are met by the central office 104 on the carrierbackbone.

As described above, bearer negotiation is distributed across physicallyseparate elements, therefore, functional scalability and performance ofthe EPC 104 is limited. For example: as small cells are added to addresshotspots of local data demand the number of subscribers (or devices) anMME 108 can handle is severely affected, and the SGW 110 is a highperformance service aggregation router primarily designed for high datathroughput (e.g., 80 Tbps). The signaling traffic that it receives willtypically significantly degrade its capacity. This lack of functionaland performance scalability of the EPC 104 is the reason for the highOPEX (greater than 80% in some instances) of network operators.

FIG. 2 illustrates a scalable hardware platform 200 according to thepresent disclosure. In the present disclosure, the hardware platform 200is configured to host virtualized instances of the various hardwaresystems of the central office 104. Thus, instead of requiring multiplehardware platforms, a single hardware platform may be used for all orpart of the functionality of the central office 104. By virtualizing thevarious functions of the central office 104, the present disclosureprovides scalability based on application-specific characteristics, andreduces or eliminates the penalty associated with physical interfaces(as required by the conventional approach).

The platform 200 includes a system processor 202 (e.g., multi-coregeneral purpose processor, such as those provided by Intel Corp., etc.),system memory 204, RAN interface circuitry 206 and network interfacecircuitry 208. The RAN interface 206 is configured to provide aninterface between the plurality of virtual machine (VM) instances hostedin memory 204 and the radio network 102. The RAN interface 206 and thesignaling between the RAN 102 and the platform 200 may comply with theaforementioned 3GPP standards. The network interface circuitry 208 isconfigured to provide an interface between the network 106 and theplatform 200. The network interface circuitry 208 and the signalingbetween the network interface circuitry 208 and the platform 200 maycomply with the aforementioned IEEE Ethernet standard. The memory 204 isconfigured store a plurality of virtual machine (VM) modules, as will bedescribed in greater detail below.

The VM modules stored in memory 204 include a VM provisioning module 222configured to provision hardware resources associated with the platform200 and assign the hardware resources to one or more of the plurality ofVM modules 210-220. The hardware resources may include, for example, oneor more cores associated with processor 202, the RAN interface 206,network interface 208, the size of memory 204, etc. A virtualizinghypervisor 224 is configured to abstract the hardware resources of theplatform 200 to be utilized by the VM modules 210-220.

To provide virtualization of the functionality of the central office104, the platform 200 of the present disclosure includes a signaling VMmodule 210 generally configured to provide at least a portion of thefunctionality of the MME 108 and at least a portion of the functionalityof the SGW 110 of FIG. 1, described above. For example, the signaling VMmodule 210 may include one or more applications (running in avirtualized environment of the signaling VM 210) configured to provideinterrogation of a subscriber database VM 220 (discussed below) and/or apolicy decisioning VM 218 (discussed below) to authenticate a device(UE) for allocation of a bearer and/or a determination of how many UEsare attached to the system 100. The signaling VM module 210 may also beconfigured to determine an identity of a cell tower to which each UE isattached to the system 100. The signaling VM module 210 may also beconfigured to parse specific service requests from one or more UE. Thesignaling VM module 210 may also be configured to determine an active oridle state of one or more UE in the system 100. The signaling VM module210 may also be configured to determine movement of a UE from oneeNodeB/tower to another eNodeB/tower. The signaling VM module 210 mayalso be configured to cache active UE device state information toprovide faster access to UE device state information (as opposed to adatabase look-up). The signaling VM module 210 may also be configured toupdate a device state database management VM 216 (discussed below),etc., and/or other functionality as may be defined by the aforementioned3GPP standards for signaling and state management functions of thecentral office.

The platform 200 of the present disclosure also includes a bearermanagement VM module 212 generally configured to provide at least aportion of the functionality of the SGW 110 and at least a portion ofthe functionality of the MME 108, described above. For example, thebearer management VM module 212 may include one or more applications(running in a virtualized environment of the bearer management VM 212)configured to provide a termination point to an eNodeB for the datatraffic from a UE (user plane), and/or route user plane data flowsbetween an eNodeB and the networking/routing management VM module 114(discussed below). The bearer management VM module 212 may also beconfigured to communicate with the signaling VM module 210 for UEmanagement when one or more UEs attach to an eNodeB, when a UEcommunicates a specific service request, and/or when a UE moves betweena tower/eNodeB (e.g., handover operations). The bearer management VMmodule 212 may also be configured to communicate with thenetworking/routing management VM module 114 (discussed below) toestablish a user plane for one or more accepted bearers, etc., and/orother functionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPPstandards for service (bearer) negotiation and/or routing functions ofthe central office.

In addition, and in contrast to the conventional MME 108 and SGW 110,the bearer management VM module 212 may include one or more applications(running in a virtualized environment of the bearer management VM 212)configured to provide decoding of eNodeB data (e.g., GTP-U payloads)onto network routers (not shown) to transmit the data to one or moreexternal networks 106, encoding incoming traffic from the network 106into GTP-U payloads by encoding destination eNodeB address information,and routing GTP-U data flows to an appropriate RAN interface 206,provide interrogation of the device state database management VM 216(discussed below) and/or a policy decisioning VM 218 (discussed below)to respond to specific bearer requests, for example, QoS requests,specific bearer requests, additional bearer requests, etc., and/or otherfunctionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.

The platform 200 of the present disclosure also includes anetworking/routing management VM module 214 generally configured toprovide at least a portion of the functionality of the PGW 114 of FIG.1, described above. For example, the bearer management VM module 214 mayinclude one or more applications (running in a virtualized environmentof the networking/routing management VM module 214) configured toprovide decoding of eNodeB data (e.g., GTP-U payloads) onto networkrouters (not shown) to transmit the data to one or more externalnetworks 106, encoding incoming traffic from the network 106 into GTP-Upayloads by encoding destination eNodeB address information, and routingGTP-U data flows to an appropriate interface of the SGW 110. Thenetworking/routing management VM module 212 may also be configured toprovide interrogation of the device state database management VM 216(discussed below), etc., and/or other functionality as may be defined bythe aforementioned 3GPP standards.

The platform 200 of the present disclosure also includes a device statedatabase management VM module 216 generally configured to provide atleast a portion of the functionality of the SGW 110 and the HSS 112 ofFIG. 1, described above. In addition, and in contrast to theconventional SGW 110 and HSS 112, the device state database managementVM module 216 may include one or more applications (running in avirtualized environment of the device state database management VMmodule 216) configured to provide database storage of the state ofactive and inactive UEs on the network. The device state databasemanagement VM module 216 may also be configured to communicate with thesignaling VM module 210 to update active device state information,communicate with the bearer management VM module 212 to provide devicestate information for admitting additional service requests from one ormore UEs, and communicate with the subscription database VM module 220(described below) to determine if one or more UEs are properlysubscribed for admittance onto the network, etc., and/or otherfunctionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.

The platform 200 of the present disclosure also includes a policydecisioning VM module 218 generally configured to provide at least aportion of the functionality of the PCRF 116 of FIG. 1, described above.For example, the policy decisioning VM module 218 may include one ormore applications (running in a virtualized environment of the policydecisioning VM module 218) configured to manage policy and/or specificrules for each UE (and/or subscriber), etc., and/or other functionalityas may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards. The platform 200of the present disclosure also includes a subscription database VMmodule 220 generally configured to provide at least a portion of thefunctionality of the HSS 112 of FIG. 1, described above. For example,the subscription database VM module 220 may include one or moreapplications (running in a virtualized environment of the subscriptiondatabase VM module 220) configured to store profile and credentialinformation for each UE (and/or subscriber), etc., and/or otherfunctionality as may be defined by the aforementioned 3GPP standards.

Advantageously, the present disclosure provides virtualized instances toprovide various functionality described herein, communication betweentwo or more VM modules may be established using software procedure calls(e.g. semaphores (a synchronization mechanism established between twothreads or processes to synchronize access to shared resources), etc.),instead of Ethernet (or other) communications which necessarily requirestack protocols (e.g., user plane stack, control plane stack, etc.).Thus, communication between VM modules of the present disclosure mayoccur at much faster rates (e.g., memory speed instead of network speed)and with significantly reduced overhead compared to the conventionalcommunication systems between platforms of the conventional centraloffice 104.

In some embodiments, the VM instances have shared access to resourcepools through the VM provisioning module. In operation, signaling aswell as application traffic enters the carrier backbone, via the networkinterface 208 and/or RAN interface 206. However, instead of signalingmessages being shuttled back and forth between different physicalelements, messages are parsed by software processes initiated at one ormore VM modules 210-220. The VM modules 210-222 may run simultaneously.Bearer negotiation signaling is performed by a set of softwaresemaphores. Successful closure of all signaling semaphores and/or remoteprocedure calls (e.g., RAPI, etc.) permits application payloads to exitonto the Internet backbone. Reducing signaling message processing tosoftware semaphores eliminates significant processing overheadassociated with setting up of the IP transports of the conventional EPCarchitecture. Data transfer between various elements of the networkingpipeline may occur at memory speed transfer instead of network speedtransfer. The VM provisioning module 222 may be configured tocommunicate with application service providers e.g. Youtube, Fox, ESPN,etc. to provide scalable provisioning of virtualized functionsassociated with VM modules 210-220. This may enable application-specifictailoring of the central office infrastructure hitherto not possiblewith the boxed functions and physical interfaces.

In addition, instancing the functions in VM modules 210-220 providesscalable provisioning of hardware resources for each of the VM modules210-220. Performance of each VM module may be tuned to the functionrequirements with additional VMs being instanced, as needed, to scalecapacity based on load requirement of the RAN 102, network 106 and/oravailable hardware resources of the platform 200. The scalableprovisioning is depicted by the shaded bars 226-236 within eachrespective VM module 210-220.

Also advantageously, the virtualized instances of the VM modulesdescribed herein may be deployed at various locations in response tonetwork demand. Accordingly, while FIG. 2 depicts the platform 200having VM modules 210-222, in some embodiments a subset of these modulesmay be deployed at any location within the network system in response toload demand to provide advantageous local deployment of variousfunctions. These features may enable the virtualized instances ofselected VM modules to provide greater responsiveness to traffic/loadconditions at a specified location. Also, the virtual machine-basedfunctionality provisioning described herein may providede-centralization of the core network 104 allowing instances to rundirectly at targeted edges, e.g., enterprise or machine-to-machine (M2M)edge nodes. For example, the signaling VM module 210, bearer managementVM module 212 and/or networking/routing management VM module 214 may beinstanced at an eNodeB/tower location (e.g., deployed at a network edge)in response to heavy traffic demands, etc.

FIG. 3 illustrates a telecom network architecture 300 according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure. The telecom networkarchitecture 300 includes various hardware and network topologycomponents (e.g., eNodeB, cell towers, network, Ues, etc.) as theconventional telecom network 100, and certain items in FIG. 3 aregraphically depicted the same as FIG. 1, and thus, thepreviously-described items shall have the same definition/description inFIG. 3 as described above with reference to FIG. 1. The telecom networkarchitecture 300 generally complies, or is compatible, with theaforementioned 3GPP standards. With continued reference to FIGS. 1 and2, the network 300 includes a VM provisioning platform 302, a corebackbone 304, a RAN 306 and a plurality of application/content servers308. The VM provisioning platform 202 is configured to communicate withthe application/content servers 308 (e.g., Google, YouTube, ESPN, FOX,etc.) and generate one or more VM module instances at a selectedlocation of the RAN 306, for example, as depicted by the referencenumber 200′ deployed on a selected platform in the RAN 306. In thiscase, the 200′ reference numeral is used to indicate that a subset ofthe VM instances depicted in FIG. 2 may be deployed. The core backbone304 may include one or more platform systems configured to hostinstances of centralized functions, e.g., the policy decisioning VMmodule 218 and/or subscription database VM module 220.

In some embodiments, the VM provisioning platform 302 may be configuredto provision instances of the VM modules to areas of incident demand,for example, as depicted at 200′. Thus, for example, the signaling VMmodule 210, bearer management VM module 212, network/routing managementVM module 214 and/or device state database management VM module 218 maybe instanced at a network edge location 200′, based on, for example theload demand at a local. Centralized functions may be instanced on thebackbone platform 304. Thus, in the present disclosure, functionalitymay be distributed and/or co-located to a network edge location (orother location of increasing load requirements) while otherfunctionality may remain more centrally located. The functions may beinstanced based on, for example, load conditions, available HWresources, etc.

Instancing of selected VM modules may also enable network operators ornetwork providers to dynamically move and reposition these VM modules inthe network based on network analytic, i.e. move the signaling VMs wheremost of the traffic will be at a specific time, e.g. 8 am US EST vs. 5am PST in order to reduce backhaul traffic, save energy and improvereal-time responses, etc. In some embodiments, the VM provisioningplatform 302 may be configured to optimize placement of a VM module byanalyzing network statistics so that the VM module is moved closer tothe data source, i.e. the majority of callers in on a particular node.

The foregoing is based on example system architectures andmethodologies, however, modifications to the present disclosure arepossible. For example, platform 200 may include chipset circuitry,various bus circuitry, I/O circuitry, etc. The host processor 202 mayinclude one or more processor cores and may be configured to executesystem software. System software may include, for example, operatingsystem code (e.g., OS kernel code) and local area network (LAN) drivercode. LAN driver code may be configured to control, at least in part,the operation of the network interface 208. System memory may includeI/O memory buffers configured to store one or more data packets that areto be transmitted by, or received by, network controller 104. Chipsetcircuitry may generally include “North Bridge” circuitry (not shown) tocontrol communication between the processor 202, network interface 208,RAN interface 206 and system memory 204.

In some embodiments, the network interface 208 may be a networkinterface card (NIC) coupled to the platform 200 via a bus (not shown).The bus may comprise a bus that complies with the Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) Express™ Base Specification Revision 1.0, publishedJul. 22, 2002, available from the PCI Special Interest Group, Portland,Oreg., U.S.A. (hereinafter referred to as a “PCI Express™ bus”).Alternatively, the bus instead may comprise a bus that complies with thePCI-X Specification Rev. 1.0a, Jul. 24, 2000, available from theaforesaid PCI Special Interest Group, Portland, Oreg., U.S.A.(hereinafter referred to as a “PCI-X bus”). Also alternatively, the busmay comprise other types and configurations of bus systems, withoutdeparting from this embodiment.

Platform 200 may further include an operating system (OS, not shown) tomanage system resources and control tasks that are run on, e.g.,platform 200. For example, the OS may be implemented using MicrosoftWindows, HP-UX, Linux, or UNIX, although other operating systems may beused. In some embodiments, the OS may be replaced by a virtual machinemonitor (or hypervisor) which may provide a layer of abstraction forunderlying hardware to various operating systems (virtual machines)running on one or more processing units. The operating system and/orvirtual machine may implement one or more protocol stacks. A protocolstack may execute one or more programs to process packets. An example ofa protocol stack is a TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/InternetProtocol) protocol stack comprising one or more programs for handling(e.g., processing or generating) packets to transmit and/or receive overa network. A protocol stack may alternatively be comprised on adedicated sub-system such as, for example, a TCP offload engine and/ornetwork interface 208. The TCP offload engine circuitry may beconfigured to provide, for example, packet transport, packetsegmentation, packet reassembly, error checking, transmissionacknowledgements, transmission retries, etc., without the need for hostCPU and/or software involvement.

The system memory may comprise one or more of the following types ofmemory: semiconductor firmware memory, programmable memory, non-volatilememory, read only memory, electrically programmable memory, randomaccess memory, flash memory, magnetic disk memory, and/or optical diskmemory. Either additionally or alternatively system memory may compriseother and/or later-developed types of computer-readable memory.

Embodiments of the operations described herein may be implemented in asystem that includes one or more storage devices having stored thereon,individually or in combination, instructions that when executed by oneor more processors perform the operations. The processor may include,for example, a processing unit and/or programmable circuitry in thenetwork platform 200 and/or other processing unit or programmablecircuitry. Thus, it is intended that operations according to the methodsdescribed herein may be distributed across a plurality of physicaldevices, such as processing structures at several different physicallocations. The storage device may include any type of tangible,non-transitory storage device, for example, any type of disk includingfloppy disks, optical disks, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs),compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), and magneto-optical disks,semiconductor devices such as read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs) such as dynamic and static RAMs, erasable programmableread-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmableread-only memories (EEPROMs), flash memories, magnetic or optical cards,or any type of storage devices suitable for storing electronicinstructions.

“Module”, as used herein, may comprise, singly or in any combinationcode and/or instructions sets (e.g., software, firmware, etc.) that areconfigured to be executed and run by a processing device.

Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a platform for a wirelesstelecommunications network system. The platform includes a processor toexecute instructions associated with a plurality of virtual machine (VM)modules; memory to store said plurality of virtual machine modules; afirst interface to exchange commands and data between at least one VMmodule and at least one user equipment (UE) in communication with theplatform; and a second interface to exchange commands and data betweenat least one VM module and a network in communication with the platform.The VM modules include a signaling VM module for, at least in part,state management of the at least one UE; and a network routingmanagement VM module for, at least in part, routing data packets betweenthe at least one UE and the network.

The present disclosure also provides a computer platform for hosting avirtual machine (VM) environment for exchanging commands and dataassociated with at least one user equipment (UE) in communication withthe computer platform and for exchanging commands and data associatedwith a network in communication with the computer platform. The computerplatform includes a signaling VM module for, at least in part, statemanagement of at least one UE; a network routing management VM modulefor, at least in part, routing data packets between the at least one UEand the network; and a VM provisioning module for, at least in part,provisioning hardware resources associated with the computer platformand assigning the hardware resources to at least one of the signaling VMmodule or the network routing management VM module. The VM provisioningmodule is further for scaling of the hardware resources provisioned tothe signaling VM module or the network routing management VM modulebased on, at least in part, load requirements of the at least one UE orthe network.

The present disclosure also provides a method for virtualizing anevolved packet core (EPC) of wireless telecommunications network onto acomputer platform, the computer platform for exchanging commands anddata associated with at least one user equipment (UE) in communicationwith the computer platform and for exchanging commands and dataassociated with a network in communication with the computer platform.The method includes generating a signaling VM module for, at least inpart, state management of at least one UE; generating a network routingmanagement VM module for, at least in part, routing data packets betweenthe at least one UE and the network; and generating a VM provisioningmodule for, at least in part, provisioning hardware resources associatedwith the computer platform and assigning the hardware resources to atleast one of the signaling VM module or the network routing managementVM module. The VM provisioning module is further for scaling of thehardware resources provisioned to the signaling VM module or the networkrouting management VM module based on, at least in part, loadrequirements of the at least one UE or the network.

The present disclosure also provides an example system that includes acomputer platform system for virtualizing an evolved packet core (EPC)of wireless telecommunications network onto a computer platform, thecomputer platform for exchanging commands and data associated with atleast one user equipment (UE) in communication with the computerplatform and for exchanging commands and data associated with a networkin communication with the computer platform comprising. The computerplatform system includes one or more storage devices having storedthereon, individually or in combination, instructions that when executedby one or more processors result in the following operations includinggenerate a signaling VM module for, at least in part, state managementof at least one UE; generate a network routing management VM module for,at least in part, routing data packets between the at least one UE andthe network; and generate a VM provisioning module for, at least inpart, provisioning hardware resources associated with the computerplatform system and assigning the hardware resources to at least one ofthe signaling VM module or the network routing management VM module. TheVM provisioning module is further for scaling of the hardware resourcesprovisioned to the signaling VM module or the network routing managementVM module based on, at least in part, load requirements of the at leastone UE or the network.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used asterms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention,in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalentsof the features shown and described (or portions thereof), and it isrecognized that various modifications are possible within the scope ofthe claims. Accordingly, the claims are intended to cover all suchequivalents.

Various features, aspects, and embodiments have been described herein.The features, aspects, and embodiments are susceptible to combinationwith one another as well as to variation and modification, as will beunderstood by those having skill in the art. The present disclosureshould, therefore, be considered to encompass such combinations,variations, and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. At least one non-transitory computer-readablestorage storing instructions for execution by programmable circuitry,the instructions when executed by the programmable circuitry resultingin the programmable circuitry being configured to perform operationsassociated, at least in part, with provision of virtualized packetcore-related functions for use in association with at least one radioaccess network (RAN), at least one Internet network, and at least onemobile end-user (UE) device, the virtualized packet core-relatedfunctions to be provided, at least in part, via at least one applicationof at least one virtualized environment to be hosted in at least onephysical computer hardware platform that comprises the programmablecircuitry, the operations comprising: determining, based at least inpart upon policy rules and subscriber-related information, whether toallocate at least one bearer for use by the at least one mobile UEdevice in association with (1) at least one application session of theat least one mobile UE device and (2) at least one quality of service(QoS)-related service request; and routing, at least in part, datatraffic associated with the at least one mobile UE device, between theat least one RAN and the at least one Internet network; wherein: thedetermining operation is associated, at least in part, with at least onevirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the routingoperation is to be provided via the at least one application of the atleast one virtualized environment; the at least one application sessionis associated with at least one other application to be executed by theat least one mobile UE device; and the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is providable in a manner that is determinedbased, at least in part, upon the at least one other application: the atleast one application of the at least one virtualized environmentcomprises a plurality of applications; the at least one virtualizedenvironment comprises a plurality of virtual machines: and the at leastone physical computer hardware platform comprises a plurality ofphysical computer hardware platforms for hosting the plurality ofvirtual machines.
 2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readablestorage of claim 1, wherein: the at least one mobile UE device comprisesat least one handheld smartphone.
 3. The at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of physicalcomputer hardware platforms are distributed in a network core and anetwork edge; and the network edge is local to the at least one mobileUE device.
 4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storageof claim 1, wherein: the at least one virtualized packet core-relatedfunction is for use in association with at least one telecom system thatis compatible with a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)standard.
 5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storageof claim 4, wherein: the routing operation is associated, at least inpart, with at least one other virtualized packet core-related functionto be provided via the at least one application of the at least onevirtualized environment; the at least one packet core-related functionis to be implemented, at least in part, at a network core; and the atleast one other packet core-related function is to be implemented, atleast in part, at a network edge.
 6. At least one physical computerhardware platform for use in association with at least one radio accessnetwork, at least one Internet network, and at least one mobile end-user(UE) device, the at least one physical computer hardware platformcomprising: programmable circuitry; computer-readable storage storinginstructions for execution by the programmable circuitry, theinstructions when executed by the programmable circuitry resulting inthe programmable circuitry being configured to perform operationsassociated, at least in part, with provision of virtualized packetcore-related functions for use in association with the at least one RAN,the at least one Internet network, and the at least one mobile UEdevice, the virtualized packet core-related functions to be provided, atleast in part, via at least one application of at least one virtualizedenvironment to be hosted in the at least one physical computer hardwareplatform, the operations comprising: determining, based at least in partupon policy rules and subscriber-related information, whether toallocate at least one bearer for use by the at least one mobile UEdevice in association with (1) at least one application session of theat least one mobile UE device and (2) at least one quality of service(QoS)-related service request; and routing, at least in part, datatraffic associated with the at least one mobile UE device, between theat least one RAN and the at least one Internet network; wherein: thedetermining operation is associated, at least in part, with at least onevirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the routingoperation is to be provided via the at least one application of the atleast one virtualized environment; the at least one application sessionis associated with at least one other application to be executed by theat least one mobile UE device; and the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is providable in a manner that is determinedbased, at least in part, upon the at least one other application: the atleast one application of the at least one virtualized environmentcomprises a plurality of applications: the at least one virtualizedenvironment comprises a plurality of virtual machines: and the at leastone physical computer hardware platform comprises a plurality ofphysical computer hardware platforms for hosting the plurality ofvirtual machines.
 7. The at least one physical computer hardwareplatform of claim 6, wherein: the at least one mobile UE devicecomprises at least one handheld smartphone.
 8. The at least one physicalcomputer hardware platform of claim 6, wherein: the plurality ofphysical computer hardware platforms are distributed in a network coreand a network edge; and the network edge is local to the at least onemobile UE device.
 9. The at least one physical computer hardwareplatform of claim 6, wherein: the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is for use in association with at least onetelecom system that is compatible with a Third Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP) standard.
 10. The at least one physical computer hardwareplatform of claim 9, wherein: the routing operation is associated, atleast in part, with at least one other virtualized packet core-relatedfunction to be provided via the at least one application of the at leastone virtualized environment; the at least one packet core-relatedfunction is to be implemented, at least in part, at a network core; andthe at least one other packet core-related function is to beimplemented, at least in part, at a network edge.
 11. A methodimplemented using programmable circuitry of at least one physicalcomputer hardware platform, the programmable circuitry beingconfigurable to perform operations associated, at least in part, withprovision of virtualized packet core-related functions for use inassociation with at least one radio access network (RAN), at least oneInternet network, and at least one mobile end-user (UE) device, thevirtualized packet core-related functions to be provided, at least inpart, via at least one application of at least one virtualizedenvironment to be hosted in the at least one physical computer hardwareplatform, the method comprising: determining, based at least in partupon policy rules and subscriber-related information, whether toallocate at least one bearer for use by the at least one mobile UEdevice in association with (1) at least one application session of theat least one mobile UE device and (2) at least one quality of service(QoS)-related service request; and routing, at least in part, datatraffic associated with the at least one mobile UE device, between theat least one RAN and the at least one Internet network; wherein: thedetermining is associated, at least in part, with at least onevirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the routingis to be provided via the at least one application of the at least onevirtualized environment; the at least one application session isassociated with at least one other application to be executed by the atleast one mobile UE device; and the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is providable in a manner that is determinedbased, at least in part, upon the at least one other application: the atleast one application of the at least one virtualized environmentcomprises a plurality of applications: the at least one virtualizedenvironment comprises a plurality of virtual machines: and the at leastone physical computer hardware platform comprises a plurality ofphysical computer hardware platforms for hosting the plurality ofvirtual machines.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein: the at least onemobile UE device comprises at least one handheld smartphone.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein: the plurality of physical computer hardwareplatforms are distributed in a network core and a network edge; and thenetwork edge is local to the at least one mobile UE device.
 14. Themethod of claim 11, wherein: the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is for use in association with at least onetelecom system that is compatible with a Third Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP) standard.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein: therouting is associated, at least in part, with at least one othervirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the atleast one packet core-related function is to be implemented, at least inpart, at a network core; and the at least one other packet core-relatedfunction is to be implemented, at least in part, at a network edge. 16.At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage storinginstructions for execution by programmable circuitry, the instructionswhen executed by the programmable circuitry resulting in theprogrammable circuitry being configured to perform operationsassociated, at least in part, with provision of virtualized packetcore-related functions for use in association with at least one radioaccess network (RAN), at least one Internet network, and at least onemobile end-user (UE) device, the virtualized packet core-relatedfunctions to be provided, at least in part, via at least one applicationof at least one virtualized environment to be hosted in at least onephysical computer hardware platform that comprises the programmablecircuitry, the operations comprising: determining, based at least inpart upon policy rules and subscriber-related information, whether toallocate at least one bearer for use by the at least one mobile UEdevice in association with (1) at least one application session of theat least one mobile UE device and (2) at least one quality of service(QoS)-related service request; and routing, at least in part, datatraffic associated with the at least one mobile UE device, between theat least one RAN and the at least one Internet network; wherein: thedetermining operation is associated, at least in part, with at least onevirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the routingoperation is to be provided via the at least one application of the atleast one virtualized environment; the at least one application sessionis associated with at least one other application to be executed by theat least one mobile UE device; the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is providable in a manner that is determinedbased, at least in part, upon the at least one other application; the atleast one application of the at least one virtualized environmentcomprises a plurality of applications; the at least one virtualizedenvironment comprises a plurality of virtual machines; and the at leastone physical computer hardware platform comprises a single physicalcomputer hardware platform.
 17. The at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage of claim 16, wherein: the at least one mobileUE device comprises at least one handheld smartphone.
 18. The at leastone non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 16, wherein: theat least one virtualized packet core-related function is for use inassociation with at least one telecom system that is compatible with aThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard.
 19. The at leastone non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 18, wherein: therouting operation is associated, at least in part, with at least oneother virtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the atleast one application of the at least one virtualized environment; theat least one packet core-related function is to be implemented, at leastin part, at a network core; and the at least one other packetcore-related function is to be implemented, at least in part, at anetwork edge.
 20. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storagestoring instructions for execution by programmable circuitry, theinstructions when executed by the programmable circuitry resulting inthe programmable circuitry being configured to perform operationsassociated, at least in part, with provision of virtualized packetcore-related functions for use in association with at least one radioaccess network (RAN), at least one Internet network, and at least onemobile end-user (UE) device, the virtualized packet core-relatedfunctions to be provided, at least in part, via at least one applicationof at least one virtualized environment to be hosted in at least onephysical computer hardware platform that comprises the programmablecircuitry, the operations comprising: determining, based at least inpart upon policy rules and subscriber-related information, whether toallocate at least one bearer for use by the at least one mobile UEdevice in association with (1) at least one application session of theat least one mobile UE device and (2) at least one quality of service(QoS)-related service request; and routing, at least in part, datatraffic associated with the at least one mobile UE device, between theat least one RAN and the at least one Internet network; wherein: thedetermining operation is associated, at least in part, with at least onevirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the routingoperation is to be provided via the at least one application of the atleast one virtualized environment; the at least one application sessionis associated with at least one other application to be executed by theat least one mobile UE device; and the at least one virtualized packetcore-related function is providable in a manner that is determinedbased, at least in part, upon the at least one other application; the atleast one virtualized packet core-related function is for use inassociation with at least one telecom system that is compatible with aThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard; the routingoperation is associated, at least in part, with at least one othervirtualized packet core-related function to be provided via the at leastone application of the at least one virtualized environment; the atleast one packet core-related function is to be implemented, at least inpart, at a network core; and the at least one other packet core-relatedfunction is to be implemented, at least in part, at a network edge. 21.The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 20,wherein: the at least one mobile UE device comprises at least onehandheld smartphone.
 22. The at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage of claim 20, wherein: the at least oneapplication of the at least one virtualized environment comprises aplurality of applications; the at least one virtualized environmentcomprises a plurality of virtual machines; and the at least one physicalcomputer hardware platform comprises a plurality of physical computerhardware platforms for hosting the plurality of virtual machines. 23.The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 22,wherein: the plurality of physical computer hardware platforms aredistributed in the network core and the network edge; and the networkedge is local to the at least one mobile UE device.
 24. The at least onenon-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 20, wherein: the atleast one application of the at least one virtualized environmentcomprises a plurality of applications; the at least one virtualizedenvironment comprises a plurality of virtual machines; and the at leastone physical computer hardware platform comprises a single physicalcomputer hardware platform.